Fire-escape.



T. OTTIGNON..

PIRE ESCAPE.

APPLICATION FILED Emme, 1913.

1,092,662. v 15atented Apr. 7, 1914 llmmmu' narran srafrns rai-nurortica.

THOMAS OTTIGNON, 0F WEXFORD, ONTARIO, CANADA.

FIRE-ESCAPE.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, THoMAsOTTIGNoN, a subjectof the King of Great Britain, and resident of the town of Wexford, inthe county of York, in the 1Province of Ontario, in the Dominion ofCanada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inFire-Escapes, of which the following is a full speciiication.

This invention rela-tes to lire escapes particularly adapted to beinstalled ina building when the same is erected butwhich may be put inany buildingrat any time without altering the architecture of the same;the fire escape being in the interior of the said building.

The objects of the invention are to provide a lire escape which will bealways ready to be used'without any preparationhaving to be madeprevious to its use and `which will effect the speedy transit of a largenumber o'f persons from any ioor in the building to the ground.v

A further object is to provide for the iire proof isolation of theescape in such manner that fire will be preventedfrom reaching the samewhile ready access can be obtained to the fire escape from any floor.

Still further objects are to provide upholstered protectingmeans for thereception of persons at the lower floor so as to prevent injury to themowing to the velocity at which they may travel down Vthe fire escape andalso to arrange for the opening of a suitable smoke door in the upperpart of the building to allow smoke to escape from the isolated fireescape should it gain access thereto,` the said smoke door being adaptedto be opened from any floor.

This invention consists essentially of the novel construction andarrangement of chutes, the said chutes being situated between each licorof the building and'divided off from the main part of the building bymeans of fire proof walls of any suitable con-4 struction, the saidwalls havingdoors therein upon each ioor whereby communication isestablished between the main part of the building and the fire escape.

Means are provided at the lower end of each chute whereby persons mayarrest their progress sufficiently to enable them to reverse theirposition before proceeding down the next chute which slopes in thereverse direction. Openings are also provided at the Specification ofLetters Patent.

Application ined February ze, 1913.

Patented Apr., 7, 19ML. serial No; 750,728.

lower end walls of each chuteso that persons may enter the same from anyfloor.

The uppermost floor has a door in the wall or roof, leading to the outerair, which door 1s arranged to be opened from any floor by pulling achain, cord or the like, for the purpose of allowing smoke to escape.

The lower end of the chute upon the ground ioo-r has an upholsteredextension which is adapted to lie along the ground in front of the chutewhen in position for use, and prevents the liability of anyone beinginjured owing to the velocity with which they are projected from thechute all of which is more particularly described and shown in theaccompanying specication and drawings in which- Figure l-is a sectionaldiagrammatic view of the building showing the improved fire escapeinstalled therein part of the fire proof wall beinglb'roken away tobetter illustrate the construction of the device. Fig. 2 is a sectionalview of the same on the line a-J Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a sectional view ofthe same on the line c-Z Fig. l. Fig. 4; is a perspective view of thearresting means at the lower end of the chute on the ground floor.

Similar characters of reference indicate similar parts in the severalfigures of the drawings. i

A is the isolated part of the building which is divided from the mainpart B of 'the said building by the fire proof wall C which is shown inFig. l, and broken away in order that the arrangement of the chuteswithin the isolated part A of the building may be clearly illustrated.The fire proof wall C hasdoors therein opening on to each of the floorsof the building in order that access may be had to the isolated part Aof the building from the main part B when itis desired to use the iireescape in cases of emergency or the like. The iire escape properconsists of a series of chutes leading to the ground floor, or to anyother such .iioor as may be desired fromfwhich escape from the buildingmay be effected in cases of emergency. These chutes are marked upon thedrawing 1, 2 and 3 respectively. The chute l extends in an inclineddirection from the icor of thetop flat having an opening thereinsurrounded by suitable upholstered means whereby a person may enter theupper end of the chute l. The lower end of the chute 1 is immediatelyabove the upper end of the chute 2 which chute 2 slopes" in the oppositedirection to the said chute 1, communication being established betweenthe two chutes by means of an opening in the floor at the lower end ofthe said chute 1, and means provided at the lower end of the said chute1 whereby the chute 2 may be entered at this point if desired. The chute2 also communicates at its lower end with the farther chute 3 in asimilar manner to that in which the chute 1 communicates with the saidchute 2, the said chute 3 sloping in the opposite direction to the chue2 as illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawing. This arrangements of chutessloping in opposite directions alternately is continued until the groundHoor is reached, or other such Hoor from which escape from the buildingmay be effected.

As illustrated in the drawing the number of chutes may be increased inthe lower floors of the building in order to accommodate the increasingnumber of persons who may be using the lire escape in cases of lire, butof course this depends entirely upon the capacity of the building, andit may only be yjao necessary to make the series of chutes singlethroughout. Suitable pillars or the like, 5 and 6 may be used atdifferent points under the chutes in order to strengthen and supportsame. Y

VAt the lower end of each of the chutes 1 and 2 are arranged arrestingmeans 7 which arresting means preferably consists of a wooden bar 7"L orthe like suspended above the opening in the floor communicating with thenext chute in order that persons sliding down one chute may seize thesaid bar and arrest their progress suiiciently long to enable them toturn around before proceeding down the oppositely inclined chute beneaththem. The walls surrounding the lower ends` of the said chute areupholstered in order to prevent injury to any person by reason of theircoming in Contact with the said walls at the lower ends of the chutes.The chutes are cut away at their lower ends as indicated in 9 and 10 inorder that a person may enter the chute from any floor.

The uppermost floor of the building is provided with a door 11, or thelike, which door 11 communicates with the outer air and is provided witha bolt 12 adapted to be operated from any floor of the building by meansof a rope, chain, or the like 13 suitably communicated with the saidbolt 12. By l this means the said door 11 may be opened by pulling therope, chain or the like 13 from any floor for the purpose of allowingsmoke, which may have gained access to the isolated portion of thebuilding to escape. Instead of a door 11 as illustrated in the drawing,any suitable form of ventilation or the like maybe used in the upperflat of the building, and may be in either the wall or the roof thereof.Y

The lower end of the chute or chutes upon the ground floor are providedwith means for preventing liability of any one being injured owing tothe velocity with which they are projected from the said chute orchutes, the said means consisting of an upholstered extension 14 hingedat its middle and adapted to Y be turned upward when the fire escape isnot in use. Thesaid upholstered extension 14, is intended to projectbeyond the door of the building when in use and is for effecting themovino' of the said extension 14 to this Y position wzlien the door 15forming the exit from the building is opened. To effect this,

the extension 14 is provided with a member 16,

being heavily upholstered and preventingV injury tov such persons owingto the velocity with which they are projecting from theV chute orchutes. In cases where the chutes are arranged to slope at an anglewhich 1s not very great and the velocity at which aV person travels downthe'same is normal, the extension 14 may be dispensed with.

' It will be readily understood that the installing of a Vfire escape ofthis type'within a building does not necessitateV the altering of thearchitecture of the same, except'for the re proof'wall which effects theisolating of that part of the building from the main part. This lireescape is also ready for use at all times without any preparation andthe chutesl and 2 may be either` upholstered or provided with smoothcanvas troughs, or troughs of other material as may be desired. Thespeed at which a person travels down the said chutes may be regulated bythe persons themselves grasping the sides of the said chutes when usingthe same, or suitable rails may be provided upon the said chutes for asimilar purpose.

It will be obvious thatV this fire escape isV protected from the fire,and at the same time a number of people may be congregated around theentrances of the different chutes while being isolated from that part ofthe building which is on lire. Further, where the number of chutes isincreased at the lower oo-rs, persons upon those floors may entertherchutes without interfering Vwith* the progress of other personscoming down the chutes from the upper floors by which congestion may beavoided.

The fire proof wall may be of any suit-able construction, the doors ofthe same also being fire proof, and the doors upon each iioor beingarranged immediately opposite the lower end of the chute upon thatfloor.

Owing to the upholstered nature of the chutes a person is not liable tobe injured during progress down same, even if the said person does nottake advantage of the arresting means at the bottom in order to turnthemselves around before proceeding down the next chute. The angles atwhich the chutes are arranged may vary in diien ent case-s, and underdifferent circumstances.

This invention may be developed within the scope of the following claimwithout departing from the essential features of the same, and it isdesired that the speciication and drawings be read as being merelyillustrative, and not in a limiting sense except as necessitated by theprior art.

What I claim as my invention is.

In a iire escape, a combination of inclined chutes t-he lower most ofwhich is provided with a movable extension at its lower end, saidextension comprising a hinged upholstered member, the front part ofwhich is adapted to be turned up when the fire escape is not in use,aforward and rearwardly extending member fixed to said extension, andresilient means tending to force the said extension toward said chute, atubular bar in which said rearwardly extending member is slidably fixedand a spring Within said bar tending to force the said rearwardlyextending member outward.

Signed at the city of Toronto7 in the county of York, in the Province ofOntario, in the Dominion of Canada, this 3rd day of February 1913.

THOMAS OTTIGNON. Witnesses S. LIGHTFOOT, J. GRAY.

Copies of this patient may be obtained for five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

